Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Misuse of power is immaturity. Someone who is not mature misuses power. Such power do not stay long because it’s not power at all. It is only an illusion of power.

Q: People who do wrong, move ahead. People who do right, suffer. Why is it so?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

You think that the people who do something wrong progress in life. But haven’t you noticed the downfall these people face afterwards? There was a man named Madoff in America. People from all over the whole world were crazy to have a photograph with him. Now he is in jail. His own son revealed his scandal. So whoever attains success with unfair means will definitely fall down. There are many examples like this.If you are suffering that is not because you are good, but it may be due to a lack in skillfulness. We need four things in life- power, skill, devotion and liberation.(shakti, yukti, bhakti and mukti) You cannot be successful in society without power and skillfulness. And you cannot be successful in life without devotion and liberation. So you face problems because of a lack in skill. Have you ever met the so called successful people? Some of them are so miserable that they cannot even sleep well at night and many of them have suicidal tendencies. People who do wrong may hide but they are very miserable inside. You can smile much better than them.

Q: What is your inspiration?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

There are two ways of going about work. One is wanting to do something for which you can always find an inspiration. Another is since you already have something, so you want to do it as an expression of joy. It makes all the difference whether work is done as an expression of joy versus expecting some joy. So, I’m not expecting joy in doing something. Rather, I am doing everything as an expression of joy. Everything is happening spontaneously. People find it very hard to understand this. These people ask me, “What is your motivation?, What is it that you want by doing all of this?”. I say, "nothing. I want nothing". It’s a little hard to understand at that time. For instance, suppose you have seen a nice movie. So many people who saw Avatar told me, “Guruji, you must go.” By canvassing for a movie you enjoyed, you are not getting anything. You are not getting paid for canvassing for that movie. You go around telling everybody, “oh, that movie is so good, you should watch it.” What do you get by that? You just tell people because you enjoyed watching it, and you want to share that happiness with everybody. Infinite joy is what we’ve all been born with. I give joy by sharing myself with everybody. So, we need to bring this shift from the joy of receiving to the joy of giving.

Q: How do we recognize if a Master is true or not? Whoever gets connected to one’s master puts full faith in him but then there can be a wrong use of this faith. So when someone ask me this question, it becomes difficult for me to answer in a proper way.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

There are so many people in this world who betray their friends. Seeing this you don’t stop making friends. There are so many people who go to shops, steal things and go away. How would you feel being suspected as a thief when you enter a shop? So don’t be with that fear. Some doctors take out the kidneys of patients, then should people stop trusting all the doctors? Many time accidents happen, say a train gets off the track. Now should people stop traveling in trains because of this fear? This is paranoia. Listen to your heart. If your faith is true even if the master does wrong to you, it will not have any effect on you. Your faith will only raise you higher. If the master is doing wrong he will fall down, face problems, but it will not affect you at all. Your heart guides you to that which is right.

Q: How do you know when to forgive someone?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

When something starts to bother you too much.

Q: In your discourse on Narada Bhakti Sutra, you say everything is illusion. Then if everything is illusion, does that mean there is no need to do anything?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

First you hear the full talk. Making concepts after hearing half or one tape is not advisable.

Q: How can one find the purpose of life?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Become calm and listen to your inner self. Do you all have cell phones? What do you need for the cell phone to work? If there is no SIM card, will it work? If there is a SIM card, but you are far away, will it work? You need a SIM card, signal and the battery must be charged. So all three are required: battery, SIM card and closeness to the tower.

Even if you have all three but you don’t dial, will it work? You need to do that much. The spiritual connection is the tower. Self-effort is that little dialing and meditation is charging. Then our prayers will be answered. Sometimes the prayers are not answered. Why? Because there is no SIM card. You have the ability to bless and grant others’ wishes when the mind is serene.

Q: How can spiritual practices strengthen academic progress?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Definitely. you know there has been a research recently from England that the children who study Sanskrit excel in mathematics and linguistic function of their brain become so much better that these children can learn any language from Chinese to English to Russia easily. Researchers worked for 15 years and they find out these results. Three schools in England have made Sanskrit compulsory in the school. They also did research why India is Excellent in IT. Indian brain is more suitable on computer. This is because of the background of Sanskrit language. So, it is good to have your children study Sanskrit. Apart from this there are number of researches which show how doing pranayama enhance the performance of children. They feel more calm, attentive, and more alert. They are able to perceive and digest better. There are number of such benefits that have been proved. You can look into the yes+ website for the benefits that a child gets in academic field.

Q: What is significance of Shiva’s trishul?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Holding trishul signifies that Shiva is above three states – awake, dream and sleep. But who takes all these along with.

Q: Effect of one life’s karma is carried on to another lifetimes. How do we understand this?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

You sow a coconut tree two years back and it has grown today. Same way, until the impression of your previous done karma is there on your mind, that karma manages to exist. That impression can only be erased through meditation, pranayama and service. You are freed from that karma when the impression is erased. All this is there on the mind only. Karma is nothing but an impression on the mind. When you wake up and see that mind is a part of you and it is your mind, but you are not your mind, and you have an untouched existence which is much greater than your mind, then all karma automatically dissolves.